Calgary Wranglers series preview: Bring on Bakersfield
1 month ago
The Calgary Wranglers and the Bakersfield Condors face off at the Scotiabank Saddledome for the battle of Alberta’s best AHL team. It’s been a while since they saw each other with their last game taking place on Jan. 20. This was just a one-off matchup while Calgary was in California and the Condors won 7-3. Their season series sits at 2-2 and the Wranglers look to pull ahead in these next couple of games.
Projected lineups
Calgary
Adam Klapka – Cole Schwindt – William Stromgren
Rory Kerins – Ben Jones – Riley Damiani
Brett Sutter – Clark Bishop – Mitch McLain
Lucas Ciona – Matthew Wedman – Ilya Nikolaev
Jeremie Poirier – Ilya Solovyov
Jordan Oesterle – Jonathan Aspirot
Yan Kuznetsov – Colton Poolman
Oscar Dansk
Connor Murphy
Bakersfield
Ty Tullio – Dylan Holloway – Lane Pederson
Raphael Lavoie – Jayden Grubbe – Seth Griffith
Carter Savoie – Greg McKegg – Matvey Petrov
Dino Kambeitz – Brad Malone – Cameron Wright
Philip Bromberg – Ben Gleason
Cam Dineen – Max Wanner
Noel Hoefenmayer – Philip Kemp
Jack Campbell
Olivier Rodrigue
Leaders
Calgary
Matt Coronato – 40GP, 15G, 27A (inactive on NHL call-up)
Ben Jones – 58P, 19G, 19A
Adam Klapka – 52GP, 17G, 19A
Bakersfield
Seth Griffith – 53GP, 12G, 36A
Lane Pederson – 52GP, 19G, 25A
Raphael Lavoie – 51GP, 24G, 16A
Notes and expectations
On Monday, the organization added another centre to the depth chart with the signing of Sam Morton. Morton signed a one-year, two-way contract that starts next season but he is available to the Wranglers for the rest of the season on an ATO. Morton earned 34 points in 27 games this year with 24 goals and 10 assists. It might be too quick of a turnaround to expect him in Tuesday’s game but his time in the lineup should be coming very soon.
Morton is the third college player from Minnesota State University (Mankato) the Flames have picked up in the last couple of years as he played a season with Walker Duehr in 2020-21. He also came from the same school as former Flame Connor Mackey but did not overlap years with him. Morton is a 24-year-old left-handed shot and has been assigned number 45 with the squad for now.
After splitting last weekend, the Wranglers have fallen to seventh in the Pacific Division standings which puts them right on edge of the qualified playoff teams. They have a 10-point lead on the Henderson Silver Knights, who are next in the standings and their magic number to clinch a spot in the playoff sits at 19. They are in the conversation but still need to hone in on their goal for the next month of hockey to officially qualify.
Their next opportunity to make up some ground in the standings starts on Tuesday night in Calgary with game two the following night on Wednesday. Both games are set to start at 7:00 p.m. MT. There are multiple options for following along with these games with tickets still available to catch it in person or you can follow along with the radio broadcast on the Fan960. Streaming options are available for a cost on AHL.tv. FlameNation contributors Mike Gould and I will also have updates on X (formerly Twitter).
Let’s get rowdy! GAME DAY hosted by Flamesnation & Barn Burner at Greta Bar YYC is coming at you live on Saturday March 23rd! Join the crew at our favorite Game Day Watch Party spot, Greta, to watch Calgary take on Vancouver! Doors open at 7pm. Tickets are $10! Good food, good prizes and a guaranteed good time. This event is brought to you by McLeod Law LLP and Village Honda. Get your tickets at nationgear.ca before they sell out!
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